


Flung Out of Space

by HouseSatis



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Post Darillium, Post-Episode: 2015 Xmas The Husbands of River Song, Post-Library River Song, Psychological Trauma, River Song is Saved, Space Wives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:02:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27033121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HouseSatis/pseuds/HouseSatis
Summary: The Thirteenth Doctor was all set to spend the day fixing up her TARDIS and enjoying some peace and quiet when a face from the past arrives unexpectedly, with a revelation. Who, and most importantly, *when* is this new River Song?
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/River Song
Comments: 2
Kudos: 66





	1. Chapter 1

It was nice and sunny out, and the Doctor decided it to be the perfect occasion to fiddle a bit with the systems of her TARDIS and work out what was going on with the controls in the console, because there was definitely something off with them and she could just feel it. With the machine suspended so the Time Lord could access the web of cables and contraptions beneath it, the Doctor dangled from a sort of swing-thing she had devised, goggles on and coat off, ready to spend the day immersed in the wonders of her ship, trying to figure out that exquisite puzzle. It was the very least she could do, after all, she  _ had _ stolen it (or _ it _ had stolen  _ her _ \- or so the TARDIS herself said). And anyway, it was a lovely hobby - companions, they came and went, as did planets, galaxies, suns and moons, but the TARDIS, that was a friend and companion for life, and that was saying a lot, considering how long the life of a Time Lord could be, and especially the life of this particular Time Lord.

She had been lost in her musings and in the technological complexity of the task, when something changed - a feeling, a disturbance perhaps. Not something you could see or hear, but something she could  _ feel _ \- a sort of turmoil in the shape of time itself in this particular place. Aware that trouble usually came her way without her really having to look for it, the Doctor set about finishing her task, keeping her senses sharp for anything else that might manifest itself. She was nearly done with the work and had just about put everything back where it should be, somewhat annoyed to have had to rush like this when all she really wanted was to spend the whole day fiddling and fidgeting with the systems of her ship - maybe even boost and update her sonic screwdriver a little bit after tea! But now was not the time, the feeling of that strange disturbance still hung in the air, time itself felt  _ wrong _ and whatever was the cause of it, it was approaching. When the Doctor at last finished, goggles now on her forehead and dirty gloves put aside,  _ it _ came closer and one of her hearts skipped a beat.

And then, well… And then, the arrow came. It was shooting through the air and the Doctor heard it before her eyes truly understood what it was, and it stuck the ground right below her feet, steaming lightly. Nearly falling off the swing but not quite, the Doctor inspected it for a second and quickly looked up just in time to see a silhouette in the distance, and she recognized that stance and the curly locks tied back into a ponytail almost instantly - _ River _ .

Now both her hearts had definitely skipped at least one beat, possibly even more. Awkwardly positioned beneath her ship, the Doctor managed to grab onto the threshold of the semi-closed door and dangled from it, lifting herself up and inside the ship - she needed to leave, and quickly. This was wrong, no, not just wrong - this was  _ cruel _ . Breathless and disheveled, the Doctor ran towards the console of the TARDIS, arranging her escape while a thousand memories flashed through her brain. They had said goodbye, they had spent 24 years together on Darillium and they had said goodbye and it was one of her hardest goodbyes - and she had been through so many already. River was dead and gone now, trapped inside the Library. That was the first time she’d met her, in her tenth incarnation, when she (he, at the time) had failed to save her, and instead had been saved  _ by _ her at the cost of her life. It was sad and horrible but it had a beginning and an end, and that  _ had _ to be it, they couldn’t interfere with the timelines and even if this was some earlier, unsuspecting version of River Song that ran into her by accident, it was still too painful for the Doctor to even consider letting her in. This was too much.

Such was the Doctor’s state of hopelessness and hurt, it was only when she pulled the lever that would dematerialize the TARDIS that she noticed she had left the door semi-open in her rush, and now the ship whirred in derangement. When the Doctor looked at the entrance, however, ready to fling herself at the door and close it, there was already someone climbing inside, and the Time Lord felt herself paralyze, enraptured by the sight before her eyes - River Song, as she had been on the day they met, the day she died. Her hair, still that dark blonde and almost coppery shade, was tied back and though she wasn’t wearing the spacesuit anymore, it was definitely her and that did not make  _ any _ sense. This River was not unsuspecting at all. The Doctor jerked back instinctively, one hand in front of her.

“Don’t come any closer, River. Please.” She said, looking for the TARDIS’ biological scanner function on the console - she was  _ sure _ she still knew how to access it! River Song closed the door behind her and, hearing this, raised an eyebrow in defiance. She had just opened her mouth to say something when the Doctor raised her voice again.

“Don’t.” She said seriously, still looking for a way to scan whoever (or whenever) this River was.

“Don’t what?!” replied River, awestruck.

“ _ Don’t _ say it.” the Doctor still had a hand raised in front of her, pleading River not to come any closer.

“Well, hello to you too, sweetie.” River responded, removing her vest and untying her hair, already quite at home, leaving the bow she’d used to shoot the arrow at one corner near the coat rack by the entrance.

“I told you not to say it!” the Doctor said, sounding somewhat more childish than she had hoped to.

“I’m sorry!” River laughed, slowly approaching the console. “But really, Doctor it’s okay! I thought you’d be happy to see me, I have  _ so much _ to tell you!”

“Stop. Stop, River, don’t come any closer.”

“Why not?!”

“I need to know  _ when _ you are, we can’t be messing with our timelines right now. This is serious, I need you to step  _ back _ .” 

The Doctor said it so gravely, River actually did take a step back. This was not what she expected, but then again, when was meeting the Doctor anything like she expected? It was alright, she thought, there is no rush for us now.

Meanwhile, the Time Lord continued to fiddle with the console, demanding a full scan of the woman standing in front of her - the results were quick, but impossible. 

“Have you seen how old I am now?” River asked.

“This is wrong. I’m scanning you again.” and she did. Again, and again, and again. The TARDIS’ diagnostics came out unchanged and the ship had begun to whirr with annoyance.

“This is  _ wrong _ .” the Doctor raised her voice then, hitting the console hard, throat already tight and eyes tingling - distraught. River was startled by this, and looked on sadly at her wife. The Doctor scanned again, hopelessly, and tried to steady her own breathing. 

“It’s me, sweetie. I’m alive!” River pleaded, eager to come closer to the Doctor but not daring to, not when she didn’t understand yet and was in such a state.

“You can’t be. River, I’m sorry but you just can’t” the Doctor replied, with a severeness that was so unlike her. She didn’t just feel heartbroken, she felt wronged, betrayed by the very idea that this could be  _ her _ River song, alive after what happened in the Library, when she  _ knew _ this wasn’t possible and would turn out to be just another disappointment, just another wound for her to patch up and try to run away from. River couldn’t have survived and could never come back, and however painful, the Doctor had forced herself to accept and to live with that long ago, and anything that might make her hope for otherwise was just cruel and bound for failure, and she wouldn’t have it. It was too much.

“Just let me explain, Doctor, please. I can’t bear to see you like this.”

The Doctor simply gazed at her, hurt.

“Come, just let me explain.” River pleaded once more, not knowing what to expect from this incarnation of the Doctor, who or  _ when _ she was now. How long had it been for her since they’d last seen each other? What had she gone through?

“Just say it.” was all the Doctor replied. She wouldn’t come any closer, but she felt she had to listen to whatever this was.


	2. It just means "time"

“Well, really what can I say, Doctor? Technology evolves. The last time I saw you I was working for the Lux family company as an archeologist, they founded the Library all those years ago and the Library continued to exist after I was trapped in its’ matrix, and so was the company. After I arrived there and joined my team, I stayed there for a very, very long time, Doctor. Later on, I learned that our disappearance was quite a scandal and had serious repercussions, there were some very influential scientists there along with me, you know, and I myself already had a reputation back then. It was bad, apparently, and they started a project which went on for thousands of years, searching for ways to salvage the people trapped in their systems - it wasn’t even the first time it had happened. And well, in the end,” River smiled “they managed to! The neural relay of the sonic you gave me was quite a fine thing by the way, sweetie, thank you for that. My consciousness was salvaged though I did lose a couple of memories, most of my childhood, really. Though I don’t suppose it wasn’t all that great to start with!” River laughed, but sounded a bit upset at this. “Anyway! Long story short, my consciousness was saved and then it was only a matter of going back in time for my body, and trust me when I say they had plenty of resources to do so - time travel isn’t nearly as difficult in a few thousand years, you know. They used some Mire technology to reanimate me and that was that! All better now, and also quite possibly immortal… Not sure, but we’ll see, I guess!” she winked at the Doctor, who simply stood there, speechless.

At this, the Doctor’s thoughts rushed back to Ashildr - made immortal through Mire technology and quite possibly the Hybrid. 

“But I’ve travelled so much, River… I would have known this, I would have heard of it if such a thing was possible!”

“Did you ever check on the future of the Library and the Lux company after you saw me die at their hands?”

“No.” the Doctor frowned, visibly upset. She had to suppress her emotions, could not allow herself to hope for this, not now. 

The Doctor fell silent then, trying to figure this out - was it possible? How? When? River looked on at her, and approached slowly until they stood facing one another, and the Doctor realised she had never seen this new incarnation of hers, had never even seen her as a woman before!

“How did you find me, River? How did you know it was me?”

“Oh, you didn’t see the arrow? Funny little tracking gadget, set it to search for a Time Lord and hoped for the best, really. And when I saw the TARDIS, well… It had to be you.”

The Doctor turned away, shaken. It couldn’t be, it couldn’t be. It would just be another lie, maybe one of her enemies using this against her, some complex scheme to destroy her and offending the memory of her dead wife in the process. That had to be it. It couldn’t be true. She was on the verge of tears and there was a sob welling up in her throat, when the Doctor suddenly felt a warm hand take her own trembling, cold fingers. She turned back around to see those eyes and oh, how she would have burned everything for them, how she longed for them now, for _her_.

“We are telepathically linked Doctor, you can see for yourself if you’d like.” River said patiently and kindly, raising the Doctor’s hands to place them at her temples.

The Doctor closed her eyes, accessing the connection between them to see - and confirm - what River had said. Her life in the Library, how long she had spent there with her crew mates who had been killed by the Vashta Nerada, and the day she woke up, thousands of years later, helpless and confused, the process of recovery from the procedure, the memory loss, stealing a vortex manipulator, running away. While the Doctor searched those memories, River gazed on at her: this new, brand new version of her. The hair, the clothes, the stance, the accent, but mostly, the face: tears flowed freely now from her closed eyes, her lips twitching every now and then, there were birthmarks there too, and those lovely cheekbones. River was reminded, suddenly, of an ancient Earth love story she’d read as a teenager, and the words came to her mind before she could refrain - _“my angel, flung out of space.”_

The Doctor opened her eyes then, face awash with tears. 

“It’s true…” she murmured, stunned. 

“Yes, sweetie,” River smiled, the tears in her eyes now beginning to make their way down her face. “yes, it is.” she said, lowering both her hands to cup the Doctor’s face in them, eager to hold her, to touch her, to love her again.

The Doctor raised her own two hands to River’s face as well, allowing herself to revel in touching her once more. Had there been someone to watch them, they wouldn’t be able to tell who leaned in first - they would say that both of them simply did so at the exact same time, perhaps because they were still telepathically linked, or perhaps simply because they loved one another. When they kissed at last, the Doctor felt an impossibly heavy weight unclench around her heart, a weight she didn’t know she’d been carrying for hundreds of years.

River Song had told the Doctor once, in Darillium, that the phrase “they lived happily ever after” did not really mean being happy ever after, but that it simply meant _time_ , to have and to cherish it, and to be happy for however long you could, while you could. Whether this was truly “happy ever after”, or whether it was just _time_ , they couldn’t tell, but to even have such a gift of _time_ , so unexpected and miraculous, well - wasn’t this as close to eternity and completion as any of us could get?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there :-) would love some feedback on this! hope you like it <3


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